Читать книгу Code Name Flood - Laura Martin, Laura Martin - Страница 8

When we were still a hundred yards away from the lake, I spotted the brown object floating on top of the water’s surface with two men standing inside of it. Sweat stung my eyes, but I didn’t notice. Boat, my exhausted brain provided for me, that’s a boat. I’d read about boats, of course, but I’d never seen one. Todd must have spotted it too because he immediately veered towards it. It flashed across my mind that those men could be marines, but in that moment I didn’t care. The pack of rust-coloured scales and flashing white teeth were mere feet behind us now.

The men in the boat were dressed in strange blue jumpsuits and had black guns pressed to their shoulders. As we approached, a flash of red erupted from each barrel, and I heard an angry shriek as a spray of sand pelted my back. The men fired again as we raced into the icy water. The cold was so shocking after the heat of the sand that it would have taken my breath away if I’d had any left to take. I sloshed through the shallow water, running until it was too deep, and then I instinctively paddled, pulling handfuls of water past me. Moments later my fingernails dug into the rough wood of the boat. One of the men grabbed the back of my tunic and heaved me up over the edge, while the other stood firing shot after shot into our would-be assailants.

Todd and Shawn landed on top of me as they too were hauled in. Managing to untangle myself from the boys, I struggled to my knees and peered out over the edge of the boat. The dinosaurs were slumped across the beach, their legs stuck out at all angles and their mouths hanging open. There had to be at least twenty of them, their eyes vacant.

I realised suddenly that the only sound I could hear was the water lapping against the side of the boat, and the silence seemed deafening after the earsplitting roars of moments before. The two men lowered their guns as Todd and Shawn pulled themselves to standing positions.

“Are they dead?” Shawn wheezed, running a trembling hand over his face. “Please tell me they’re dead.”

“Of course they’re not dead,” said one of the blue jump-suited men, as though this should have been obvious, leveling his serious grey eyes on us.

“They sure look dead to me,” Todd commented, spitting a gob of sand into the water. He shoved his hands into his hair and tousled it roughly, sending a mist of grainy sand over Shawn and me.

“They’re just tranquilised,” said the other man with the gun, turning to inspect us. I jumped as I realised that what I’d taken for a slimly built man was actually a girl not much older than me. Her closely cropped black hair stuck out in odd spikes and twists over laughing hazel eyes. Her easy smile was a sharp contrast to the man beside her, whose narrowed eyes held no hint of warmth or kindness. “Those guys won’t wake up for at least three hours, and they’ll have killer headaches when they do.”

“Tranquilised?” Shawn repeated. “Why would you tranquilise them instead of killing them?”

“Wasteful,” said the older man stiffly. “The carnotaurus numbers aren’t stable. Their last breeding season was a bad one. Those right there,” he said, pointing to five large dinosaurs slumped near one another, “are probably breeding females. Did you know that their name literally means meat-eating bull? The name came from those impressive horns. Beautiful creatures. Simply amazing. Their eyes face forward instead of off to the side like all the others, one of the reasons they’re such efficient hunters. Although,” he amended, “it’s extremely rare for that many of them to chase prey like that. They prefer to hunt alone. In fact, I’ve only seen that behaviour when they believe their young are threatened.”

I’d never heard someone talk about dinosaurs with such obvious admiration.

“You mean like if someone fell headfirst into a nest and cracked an egg open with his big head?” Todd grumbled, glaring at Shawn.

“Right,” Shawn said. “Because I meant to do that. It was loads of fun at this end. By the way, why did you rip my shirt off?” he asked as he attempted to scrape the layer of sand off his neck and shoulders that the lake water hadn’t already rinsed off.

“Because I was trying to avoid that,” Todd said, pointing to the beach full of not-dead dinosaurs. He shook his head in disgust. “Obviously it wasn’t enough. They were still able to track your scent.”

Ignoring the boys’ bickering, I studied the girl curiously. “Why do you care about the, what did you call them? The carnotaurus numbers?”

“That is a good question,” Todd said, looking from the man to the girl. “Who are you people?”

“Wait a second,” Shawn said. “You don’t know them, Todd? Why did you run towards their boat?”

“Did you see a better option?” Todd asked, eyebrows raised.

“Clearly savages,” the older man sneered, turning to the back of the boat, where a small black motor was perched. “I told you we shouldn’t have picked them up, Chaz. Don’t get too close, they probably have fleas.”

“Fleas?” Todd said in indignant disbelief. “And who are you calling savages?”

I put a restraining hand on him; now was not the time to insult the people who had just saved us.

“At least you don’t have to report their deaths now. Think of the mound and a half of paperwork you just avoided,” the girl said good-naturedly. “Besides, we’ll send a team back to attach tags and trackers before the carnotaurs wake up, so it isn’t a total loss.” The man huffed into his moustache and pulled a handle on the motor. It sputtered to life.

“We’ll drop you off a mile or so down the shoreline,” the man said coolly. “That way other members of the herd won’t be able to find your trail. Although I suggest you bathe the one who fell into the nest. The stench of a hatchling can linger for months if you don’t.”

“Months?” Shawn squeaked, looking pale.

“Actually,” the man said, wrinkling his nose, “you would all benefit from bathing. You smell like faeces.”

“That would be me,” I said, raising my hand. I couldn’t smell the dinosaur poop I’d landed in anymore, but I’d probably become immune to it. The man had called us savages, and it wasn’t hard to guess why. My green tunic and leggings were liberally stained and spotted with dinosaur dung, a film of wet sand still clung to my skin, and my red hair hung in wet tangled ringlets. Shawn and Todd didn’t look much better. Shawn was dripping wet sand onto the floor of the boat, shirtless, his hair smashed down on his head in dirty clumps. Todd had somehow ripped a large gash in the shoulder of his tunic so it drooped to the side, his bow and other gear a tangle of straps across his chest. In sharp contrast, the girl was immaculate in her crisp blue jumpsuit with its neat red badge on the upper shoulder that depicted the silhouette of a long-necked brachiosaurus.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Scientists.” The girl grinned. “We’ve been studying dinosaur populations around the lake since before the pandemic.” She extended her hand, and I shook it. “I’m Chaz, by the way, Chaz McGuire. This grumpy but brilliant man is Dr Steve Schwartz.” Dr Schwartz didn’t acknowledge his introduction as he fiddled with the puttering motor positioned at the back of the boat. I glanced around, taking in the small craft’s flat wooden hull. Narrow benches built into the sides of the boat were the only available seating, leaving the centre of the boat open with enough space for the five of us to move around comfortably. Lying open near Dr Schwartz’s feet was a blue duffel bag. Leaning over, I peered inside it to see equipment I was all too familiar with as the daughter of a biologist – small sample bottles, logbooks, and various bits of technology used to measure, catalog, and label scientific findings.

What had that girl, Chaz, said? That they had been studying dinosaurs since before the pandemic? How was that possible? The pandemic, set off by the resurrection of the dinosaurs over 150 years ago, had moved swiftly, decimating over 99 per cent of the human population within days and forcing the remaining survivors underground. Well, I amended, most of the survivors. Todd’s village, the Oaks, was proof that not everyone had found refuge underground. Yet this girl acted as though the pandemic had come and gone and they’d gone right on studying dinosaurs. It made no sense.

“Do you live in a tree village like Todd?” Shawn asked, the confusion in his voice echoing my own thoughts as he shrugged into the damp tunic Todd handed him.

Todd shook his head as he eyed the girl’s strange jumpsuit. “There aren’t any villages within miles of the lake. Too dangerous. They must be compound moles like you guys.”

“Not possible,” I countered. “There are only four compounds, and none of them are anywhere close to here.” They were in fact located on the northern, southern, eastern, and western corners of what used to be North America. And up until I’d met Todd, I’d believed that they were the last holdouts of the human race, used as safe houses for the survivors of the pandemic. Now I was faced with yet another person who apparently lived outside the Noah’s rule.

Chaz grinned while she watched this exchange, as though she was enjoying a private joke. “We aren’t affiliated with the compounds or any tree villages. Good guesses, though. Actually—”

“That will be enough, Chaz,” Schwartz said sharply, cutting her off midsentence. “You’re making me regret promoting you to my assistant. One more word and you’ll be back scooping out pens.”

Chaz cringed, and I cocked my head to the side as I considered what Schwartz had just said. What pens could Chaz possibly have to scoop? I glanced back at the bag of scientific equipment again. Who were these people? Before I could ask, Schwartz turned a lever on the motor, and the boat suddenly lurched forward. My feet went out from under me, and I yelped, toppling backwards into Todd, who hit Shawn. Someone’s elbow connected with my head as I landed hard on my back. The boat continued its surge forward, the bottom vibrating underneath me so hard my teeth clattered together.

“Thanks for that,” Todd called over the roaring motor as Chaz helped him to his feet.

“Sorry,” Chaz said cheerily as she extended her hand to me. “Schwartz isn’t really a people person.”

“You don’t say,” Shawn said wryly, shooting Schwartz a dirty look. Grabbing Chaz’s hand, I attempted to clamber to my feet, but my pack caught on something, bringing me up short. There was a sharp ripping noise, and I stood up as my pack tore open, and its hastily packed contents spilled out. As if in slow motion, I saw my father’s map fall. I’d been consulting it so frequently that I hadn’t bothered to tuck it back inside my compass for safekeeping. I lunged for the map but missed as it got picked up by the wind and tumbled across the floor of the boat. Moments before it was about to go airborne and out, a booted foot smashed down on top of it, successfully halting its escape. Sighing in relief, I grabbed for it. The boot didn’t move. I looked up into Schwartz’s annoyed face.

“What is a savage doing with a map?” he asked, bending down to retrieve it before I could protest. Schwartz’s expression went from annoyed to fearful as he surveyed the meandering line that led from North Compound to the centre of Lake Michigan. “Chaz, get your weapon out,” he snapped. “Don’t let them move.”

“What?” Chaz asked, looking just as confused as I felt. “You mean the tranquiliser gun?”

“Of course the tranquiliser gun. Don’t make me say it again!” Schwartz bellowed. Chaz scrambled to follow orders and whipped her large black gun up to her shoulder.

Dr Schwartz let the motor sputter out and die as he continued to study my map as though he’d seen a ghost. The boat bobbed up and down in the waves, and my stomach rolled sickeningly. I didn’t think I liked being on a boat.

“Tie them up,” he finally said, rolling my map up and storing it in the duffel bag at his feet. Shawn opened his mouth to protest, but snapped it shut as Schwartz picked up his own tranquiliser gun. One by one, we put our hands out and allowed ourselves to be tied.

“A tranquiliser probably wouldn’t kill you,” Chaz murmured under her breath to us as she tightened the ropes on Todd’s wrists.

“Gee, thanks,” Todd sniffed.

“Yeah, I’m sure something calibrated to drop a dinosaur would be really great for our health,” Shawn muttered with a murderous look at Schwartz. It wasn’t until Chaz had double-checked the ropes on our wrists that Schwartz walked up to stand in front of me.

“No one should have a map that leads directly to the lab,” Schwartz said, scowling. “Where did you get it?”

I pressed my lips together and looked down. Schwartz grabbed my shoulder roughly and shoved me backwards until the hard wood of the boat’s edge dug painfully into the backs of my knees. My jaw clenched. If he thought he was going to bully information out of me I wasn’t ready to give, he was wrong. I’d come too far, survived too much, to risk failing my dad and the mission he’d given me by trusting the wrong person now. Swallowing hard, I remained silent and met his angry glare with one of my own.

“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear,” he said, leaning forward so I was forced to lean back further over the water. “Talk or you go overboard.”

I flicked my eyes back towards the shore; it wasn’t that far away. But with my hands tied together it might as well have been miles.

“Whoa,” Chaz said. “Dr Schwartz, sir, isn’t that a bit much? I mean, she’s just a kid.”

I felt the faintest tug of hope. Maybe Chaz wouldn’t let this guy do anything too drastic.

“So are you,” he sniffed. “Do as you’re told.”

“Yes, sir,” Chaz said, but she sounded uncertain. When I still didn’t say anything, Schwartz sighed and backed up a step, giving me some much-needed breathing room. My feeling of relief flitted away when he grabbed Shawn by the front of the tunic and shoved him against the opposite side of the boat. Shawn swayed dangerously backwards but his feet stayed firmly planted and Schwartz’s grip on him held him upright over the dark waves lapping against the boat. My heart felt like it had jumped into my throat, and I attempted to swallow it as I took in the obvious threat to my best friend’s life. It was time to talk.

“It’s from my dad,” I said. “A family heirloom. No importance.” It was a lie. The map was the most important thing I owned. But every instinct I had was screaming at me not to trust this man, and I was not going to tell him anything I didn’t absolutely have to.

Schwartz just stood there, his face unreadable as he studied me. I held my breath.

“Liar,” he said, but I barely heard him because over his shoulder I’d just seen an all-too-familiar look come over my best friend’s face. Before I could tell him not to, Shawn pulled back and clobbered Schwartz on the side of the head with his bound fists. Schwartz yelped, and as if in slow motion, I saw him lose his grip on the front of Shawn’s tunic. Shawn fought to keep his balance for a gut-wrenching heartbeat before toppling backwards and off the boat. He disappeared below the surface of the blue-black water, and I screamed, rushing forward even though I knew he was out of reach. A moment later, Shawn came up, gasping and thrashing as he fought to keep his head above the waves. With his hands still tied in front of him, he was forced to keep himself afloat with nothing but his legs as his heavy pack and gear dragged him down.

“He’s going to drown!” I gasped as Shawn’s head went under again. Panic dug its cold fingers into my heart. If I jumped in, all I would do was drown with him. In desperation, I attempted to rip at the rope binding my hands with my teeth, but it was no use. The next thing I knew, Schwartz had grabbed the back of my tunic and yanked me roughly away from the edge and onto the floor of the boat. He was shouting at me, but I was too lost in my fog of panic to hear him.

“Tell me who gave you that map,” he bellowed again, obviously deciding to use Shawn’s predicament to his advantage.

“She already did!” Todd yelled. “Can’t you see Shawn’s drowning?”

I stumbled to my feet in time to see Shawn struggle to the surface, grab a lungful of air, and go down again.

“He’ll get eaten before he can drown,” Chaz said, her lips pressed in a grim line. “Look.” Something in her voice cut through my panic, and Todd and I snapped our heads to follow her pointing finger.

“What is that thing?” Todd breathed. My heart stuttered to a terrified stop as I took in the creature swimming towards us. Its enormous head alone was almost as long as our boat and reminded me of an alligator with long yellow teeth jutting out from jaws that looked capable of crushing a human in one bite. Its massive body was serpentine and fluid as it cut through the water like a snake. A dark blue-black in colour, it blended almost seamlessly with the waves, and if Chaz hadn’t pointed it out, I might not have noticed it until it was upon us. But now that I had seen it, I knew it was going to haunt my nightmares. I had no clue what kind of plesiosaur it was, but it was one of the scariest things I’d ever seen. Which, considering everything I’d seen since coming topside, was really saying something.

“Get him out,” I begged as angry, helpless tears slid down my face. “Please.”

“Talk,” Schwartz said coldly.

“Sir!” Chaz said, dropping her gun to the floor of the boat as she lunged forward to make a grab for Shawn.

Schwartz shot a hand out to restrain her, his face pinched. “The safety of the lab is in jeopardy. Follow your orders.”

Words began pouring out of me, as though if I just said the right combination, I could save Shawn. Whether I trusted Schwartz didn’t matter now. Nothing mattered but getting Shawn out of the water. Fast.

“My dad gave it to me. He told me to come here.” I choked, frantic. “He didn’t say why. Just get him out. Please!”

“Dr Schwartz?” Chaz said as Shawn spluttered back to the surface. “That’s Pretty Boy. It could capsize us.” Tearing my eyes away from Shawn, I saw the beast sink down into the murky water. Somehow not seeing it was scarier than seeing it had been.

Schwartz sighed. “Fine, we’ll finish this at the lab.” Leaning over, he grabbed Shawn’s tunic, and with Chaz’s help he hauled him back into the boat, where he flopped in an exhausted heap, gasping for air. Schwartz was just turning back to the motor when the boat lurched suddenly, almost toppling Todd into the water. Chaz grabbed him and threw him to the floor of the boat next to Shawn.

“Dr Schwartz!” she yelled. “He’s testing us. Please get this thing moving, or we’re all dead.” Schwartz’s face went white, and he grabbed the cord of the motor, giving it a firm yank. The engine snarled and died. He pulled at it again, and it gave another hopeful rumble before sputtering out. The plesiosaur emerged beside us, and if I’d had the inclination to reach out a hand, I could have pricked a finger on one of the teeth that was roughly the length of my forearm. What had Chaz called it? Pretty Boy? What a stupid name for one of the ugliest creatures I’d ever seen. It sized us up before bumping its head into the boat again, making it tilt violently. Its message was clear. It was going to toy with us first, terrify us, before swallowing us whole.

“Dr Schwartz!” Chaz yelled, going for her tranquiliser gun.

“Saying my name isn’t helping,” Schwartz snapped. “And don’t shoot it. It’ll drown if we tranquilise it.”

“Good! Drown it!” Todd shouted, but Schwartz ignored him as he gave the cord another yank. This time the engine spluttered to life. He cranked the handle, and we shot off across the water, the shoreline shrinking behind us as we headed towards the middle of the lake. Pretty Boy submerged again, and I waited for it to reemerge and chase us. It didn’t.

I sank down beside my soaked and shivering friend. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. The words sounded pitiful. Shawn had almost just been shot, drowned, and fed to a monster. Sorry didn’t really cut it.

“What was that thing?” Shawn gasped, his eyes not leaving the spot where Pretty Boy had disappeared, and I realised that in the struggle to stay afloat Shawn hadn’t seen the monster approaching.

“I have no idea,” Todd said. “But I’m pretty sure it’s the reason my mom said to never swim in Lake Michigan.” Shawn’s face went green, but before I could ask him if he was OK, he’d crawled awkwardly to the edge of the boat and puked. Not wanting to lose him overboard again, I grabbed the back of his drenched tunic with my still-bound hands and held on until he finally flopped back onto the floor of the boat, his eyes shut.

I bent over him, worried. “Shawn?” I asked, not sure if I should ask if he was OK. Clearly he wasn’t. Not that I blamed him.

“He’ll be fine,” Todd said. “Just give him a minute.” I nodded, unconvinced. Just then my canteen rolled against my foot and I looked down to see the contents of my pack scattered across the floor of the boat. Every now and then the wind would catch a packet of dinosaur jerky or a pair of socks and send them flying into the lake. My journal lay in the corner by Schwartz’s foot, its pages damp and flayed open in the wind. Eyeing Schwartz to make sure he wasn’t looking, I grabbed it and slid it into Todd’s still-intact pack. Todd saw what I was doing, and when Schwartz’s back was turned, we collected what little supplies were left and tucked them all into Todd’s pack. Shawn continued to sprawl on the bottom of the boat, showing no intention of moving despite the bumping and jarring he was getting as the boat skipped across the choppy waves.

“We’ll interrogate them back at the lab,” Schwartz called to Chaz, shouting to be heard over the slap of the boat’s hull on the water.

Todd leaned in so only Shawn and I could hear him. “What lab is that Schwartz guy talking about?” he asked. “Lake Michigan is huge. I doubt this thing has enough gas to make it across the entire lake.”

“The lab is in the middle of the lake,” Chaz said, making us jump as she crouched down in front of us, her giant black tranquiliser gun slung casually over her shoulder.

I unconsciously clutched my compass. Maybe the lab was what my dad had wanted me to find? After all, he had marked the centre of the lake as the location of a member of the Colombe, and how many things could be in the middle of a lake? The Colombe was the secret organisation my dad and mom had founded in an attempt to bring people aboveground again. My grandfather, Ivan, had explained that after the Noah had discovered the organisation, a few had escaped. Was one of them hiding in this mysterious lab? Five years’ worth of questions burned hot inside my chest, but after what had just happened to Shawn, I was worried that I wasn’t going to like the answers I got.